Apparatus for selecting pearl buttons



Dec s, 1936. p; CARRIS 2,063,485

APPARATUS FOR SELE ICTING PEARL BUTTONS Filed Oct. 16, 1933 4 (Ya/ewe a/W3 why; 51 6, My NM KJMW A a/we/s Patented Dec. 8, 1936 aotts nus son S t; l ithhlt BU'lTilNfi Clarence 1". Carrie, Washington, Iowa, easier to Button Machine Corn.

a corporation oi Iowa W n Harm Application October 16, 1933, Serial No. tiihttd a (c1. zoo-tin An object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of simple, durable and inexpensive construction for selecting pearl buttons for color or other characteristics by means of photoelectric s or light sensitive cells.

Still a iurther, object is to provide selecting apparatus which scans-buttons in a predetermined path on a conveyer and segregates them according to light sensitive or color characteris- 10 tics by means of a segregating or button moving element which moves certain of the buttons to a new path of travel on the conveyer and leaves others in. their original path.

Still a further object is to provide selectors of 15 this character progressively arranged and being responsive to diflerent light or color characteristics whereby buttons may be graded into as many grades or colors as desired.

Still another object is to provide apparatus for selecting pearl buttons by means of photoelectric cells having diirerent response characteristics so as to eliminate hand sorting for color A or the like in the various buttons, thus eliminating the unstable factor of relying on human,

35 eyesight to grade the buttons, but on the other hand, accomplishing the grading or other types of selecting automatically.

ith these and other objects in view my invention consists in the construction, arrange- 30 ment and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set i'orth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

35 Figure l is a plan diagrammatic view oi'a'selecting apparatus embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 illustrating a selecting mechanism used in my apparatus; and

40 Figure 3 is an electrodiagrammatic-flgure of the selecting mechanism.

n the accompanying drawing, I have used the reference numerals Hi, It, l4, it, It, 20, 22 and- 2% to indicate conveyors, These may be of the 45 belt type and are preferably black so as to contrast with the buttons which are usually of light character. My apparatus is especially adapted for pearl buttons, although it may be used for other types oi buttons including dark buttons 50 which could be handled on a white conveyer belt.

, The initial conveyer i0 is adapted to receive button blanks it from a hopper 2%. These blanks v polished on one side but rough on the, other and heretofore have been fed by hand an to a button drilling and forming machine as with a relay b6 is attracted.

the polished side uppermost, as it is this side that should receive the countersinking or other surface depression usually formed in the button blanks in the drilling and forming machine to.

One object of my present invention is to introduce the button blanks it to the conveyer belt ill from the hopper 28 without the help of an operator and some of the button blanks it would accordingly have their polished side upp rmost (indicated by blank circles on the drawing) while others would have their rough side (indicated by. shaded circles on the drawing) uppermost.

suitable stationary bes 32 are mounted above the, conveyer belt ill to cause the blanks 28 to travel in a predetermined path. The blanks may be automatically spaced by a reciprocating spacer element at, as spacing is desirable for the selector mechanism Sl. Between the bafiles' 32 and the selector mechanism Si, it will be noted, there are polished and rough blanks it all in the same line of travel.

The selector mechanism Si may comprise a casing 36 mounted on a stand it or the like and having a scanning casing to extended to a position'over the original line of travel of the blanks 26 on the belt ill. The casing it houses a photo or. light sensitive cell 42 and a source of illumination such as a light globe it. Suitable lenses are provided -i'or concentrating the light on the original line of'travel of the blanks 26 and reflecting it to the photocell M.

Within the casing 38, a solenoid 46 is operable to attract a core it against the action or a spring t0 for projecting a button pushing element b2 across the belt it whenever an armature ill of In Figure 3, the wirin for the apparatus is shown.

The armature d of the relay 56, when attracted by reason of a current of sufllcient strength flowing through the relay, will close contacts $8 for energizing the solenoid it from a battery to.

Also a holding coil 62 will be energized from the battery 6B. The holding coil will remain energized until the core 48 strikes a trip lever t4 and breaks the circuit at the contacts t8, whereupon the solenoid 48 and the holding coil 62 are both tie-energized and the spring Ell returns the core 48 to its initial position.

The relay E6 is energized whenever a blank t t having sumcient reflecting characteristics acts upon the photocell 42 to cause a flow of sumcient current from a battery 66 to attract the armature 5. Gucci the polished blanks 28 will cause sufncient flow, while one of the unpolished ones will not. i

The holding coil 62 of the relay insures that the button pushing element 52 will operate through a complete cycle to cause extension of the polished blanks, as at 26a, into a second path of travel. The flow of current through the photo- .cell 42 is amplified in the ordinary manner by an amplifier tube 68, batteries 10 and resistances 12, all as now well known to persons skilled in the art.

I have shown batteries merely by way of illustration, although, of course, any suitable source of current can be used including alternating currents produced by transformers, all as now well known.

The armature constitutes a plunger in a cylinder having a leak hole 41 whereby to act as a vacuum dash pot so that the pushing element 52 is projected slowly instead of shot out by the sudden action of the solenoid.

I indicate a galvanometer at id which is especially needed when setting or adjusting the apparatus according to the selection of blanks desired.

The conveyer belt I! returns the blanks which have their wrong side up to the belt I0 after they are turned over, as for instance by a spiral chute After the buttons are drilled and formed by the drilling and forming machine 30, they are ejected by an ejector 18 into a line of travel on the conveyer M. It is now desirable to select them according to their color or other characteristics.

. The drilled and formed buttons are indicated at 261). They may be pure white or clouded white, as indicated at PW or CW, or may be colored as for instance indicated by R (red) and B (blue). A selector S2 is provided similar in construction to the selector SI but sensitive to white 'only and not to other colors. Either a different type of photoelectric cell 42 can be used or the same type as in SI with a suitable color filter interposed between it and the light refiectedirom the button 26b. Both types of apparatus are now in general use.

The selector S2 is adapted to eject the pure and clouded white buttons 26?) onto the conveyer 22, permitting the colored buttons to continue in their path of travel to the conveyer 96.

A selector S3 sensitive to blue but not red is adapted to eject the blue buttons onto the conveyer |8,'while a selector S4 can then be used to segregate the light blue buttons from the dark blue buttons (LB and DB). The red buttons can be segregated in a similar manner and intermediate colors can also be segregated, all in an obvious manner although not illustrated on the drawing. v

The pure and clouded white buttons on the conveyer 22 can be segregated by a mechanism 85' which pushes the pure white buttons onto the conveyer 24. Hoppers may be providedior collecting the various colors or grades of buttons and are located at the ends of the various con-.

veyers.

, The selecting mechanisms 82, S3, SQ and S5 are ali similar except as to the sensitiveness of the photoelectric cell 32 in each to certain colors or as to the different color filters used as hereinbefore described.

Selection of the blanks 2% on the conveyer lb eliminates the necessity of an operator having to place the polished side of the button blanks up for proper feeding to the machine 8%, while use of the selectors S2, S3, S4 and S5 eliminates the usual hand sorting of buttons having different color strains, which method has been found somewhat inaccurate, especially due to the variability of optic nerves as caused by fatigue or varying light or other conditions.

The source 01 light 64 always being the same, the selection of'the buttons will likewise be uniform, as it is only when a certain degree or characteristic of reflection acts upon the cell 42 that there is suflicient current to attract the relay armature 54 and thereby operate the pushing element 52. Thus the selecting of the buttons according to polished or rough sides, or according to colors is automatically and accurately accomplished. I

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purpose'of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure, use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a selecting apparatus for button blanks having unpolished and polished faces, the combination of a light sensitive cell and means for ejecting a button from a line oi travel on a conveyer including variable means actuated by said cell for controlling the ejection of button blanks to automatically segregate the buttons according to the variations in light reflecting characteristics thereof and means for turning the undesired blanks face for face and returning them to the line of travel of the desired blanks.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a sorting mechanism for pearl buttons comprising a photoelectric cell, means actuated by said cell for segregating the buttons according to their color characteristics and a positioning device for bringing said buttons into scanning relationship with said cell, said segregating means operating to change the position of certain 01 said buttons from their position as initially determined by said positioning device and means for reversing and returning undesired buttons to said positioning device.

3. In a button selecting apparatus, a conveyer. means for positioning buttons thereon in a pre determined path and -a segregating device including a photoelectric cell located over such predetermined path and a button moving mech-- anism actuated by said cell to initiate movement of the buttons having certain color toward a new pathon said conveyer and mechanism to complete the'actuation of said moving mechanism initiated by said scanningmechanism, said completing mechanism being electro-responsive and having a circuit closed by such initial actuation.

4. In a button selecting apparatus, a conveyer, means for positioning buttons thereon in a predetermined path, a segregating device including a photoelectric cell located over such predetermined path and a button moving mechanism actuated by said cell to initiate movement oi the buttons having certain color characteristics toward a new path on said conveyer and mechanism to complete the actuation of said moving mechanism initiated by said scanningmechanism, said completing mechanism being electroresponsive and having a circuit closed by such initial actuation and means ior collecting said buttons from each path.

5. In a selecting apparatus or the character described, conveying means, means for positioningbuttons thereon in a predetermined path, a 2d segregating device including a scanning mechanism located over such predetermined path button moving mechanism actuated thereby to move the buttons having certain characteristics to a new path of travel, reversing and returning means for the unmoved buttons for reversing them and returning them to said positioning means, a second scanning mechanism located over such new path of travel and a button moving mechanism actuated thereby to movebuttons in said new path having certain light characteristics to still another path of travel.

6. In a selecting apparatus, conveyer mechanism, means for positioning pearl buttons thereon in a predetermined path, a segregating device including a scanning mechanism located over such predetermined path and button moving mechanism including a relay actuated by said scanning mechanism, an electrically operated button pusher operated by said relay, a holding coil for said relay and circuit closure means operable tdwnergizesaid holding coil and thereby cause a full extension of said pusher whenever said relay is energized sufiiciently to start the operation thereof, said circuit closure means being opened by said pusher upon full extension thereof being completed, said pusher moving certain of said buttons to a new path on said conveyer mechanism.

7. In a selecting apparatus, conveyer means, means for positioning pearl buttons thereon in a predetermined path and a segregating device including a scanning mechanism located over such predetermined path and button moving mechanism comprising a relay actuated by said scanning mechanism, a holding magnet for said relay, de-energizing mechanism'tor' said holding magnet and'a button moving element, said element operating to affect said de-energizing mech-- anism and thereby render said holding magnet inoperable after a full extension oi! said button moving element, said element being coactible with buttons in said predetermined path having certain light characteristics to move them to a new path on said conveyer means.

8. In a selecting apparatus, the combination of a photoelectric cell and means for ejecting a button from a line of travel on a conveyer including an'ejector, an electrically operated actuatortherefor for causing the'ejection of certain of the buttons to automatically segregate the buttons according to the variations in color thereof, a switch for said actuator, said switch being controlled by said cell, and an additional controller for said switch, the energization of which is controlled by closure of said switch by said cell and the de-energization oi which is controlled by completion of the ejecting stroke of said ejector.

9. In a selecting apparatus, aconveyor, means for positioning pearl buttons thereon in a predetermined path and a segregating device including a scanning mechanism located over such predetermined path and button moving mechanism initially actuated thereby to start to move the buttons having certain light characteristics to a new path on said conveyor and mechanism to complete the actuation of said moving mechanism initiated by said scanning mechanism, said com- 

